Divide and Conquer
by BBC Addict
Summary: Alternate ending to the season 4 episode Divide and Conquer.


**This begins about midway through the episode Divide and Conquer.**

Carter was alone, now that Martouf had left. He had explained that both she and Colonel O'Neill had few options after testing positive as Zatarcs—they could undergo the same procedure attempted on Lt. Aster, which had end in her suicide, or they could be sedated indefinitely until a cure was discovered. She was not at all pleased with either. She wracked her brain trying to find a better answer. Suddenly, it hit her.

O'Neill looked up as the door to his confinement quarters opened. Carter stood in the doorway. She looked at him, silently asked permission to enter. At his nod, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She walked over to the bed where Jack was sitting. She sat down next to him so she wouldn't have to look directly at him.

"Sir, we're not Zatarcs," she said finally. Carter knew without seeing him that her CO's eyebrows were raised, demanding to know how she knew. "We were both hiding something during the test." She finally looked at him, hoping he'd understand. "P4X J37," she added.*

Jack shook his head. He'd always found it pretty difficult to keep track of planets with that naming system.

"When I fell down that cliff and you stayed behind with me and said some things to try to keep me alert," Sam prompted.

Understanding dawned on Jack's face. "And then the fishing trip." He deliberately didn't add 'and the date.'*

Sam nodded. "We should get retested." She sighed. "I never wanted it to end like this."

"Who said anything about ending?" Jack demanded. "Anise...Freya...the evil snake lady, tests us and Daniel observes."

"Why Daniel?" Carter asked.

Jack quirked an eyebrow at her. "Civilian," he replied.

"Oh, right." Sam smiled slightly. Whatever Daniel heard, he wouldn't be obliged to report it to the general...

* * *

Sam chewed on her lip as Freya questioned the colonel. "What were you feeling?" she asked.

"Like someone who was about to die," he retorted.

Sam shook her head. "Sir," she said, half-scolding, half-pleading.

Jack sighed, resigned. "I didn't leave because I would have rather died myself than lose Carter," he answered slowly.

"Why?" Freya pressed.

Jack locked eyes with Sam. "Because I care about her a lot more than I'm supposed to."

Sam released the breath she'd been holding as the Zatarc detector glowed blue, indicating Jack was telling the whole truth. She looked at Daniel, who was in the observation room. He sent her a reassuring smile.

"The colonel is not a Zatarc," Freya announced.

"Now retest me," Sam said, in a hurry to get the process over with.

"Tell me about what you were feeling while you were trapped on the other side of the force shield," Freya commanded.

"I felt helpless—I couldn't fight the approaching Jaffa, I couldn't shut down the shield. The only thing I could do was urge the colonel to leave, but he wouldn't go. I wanted him to save himself, but I knew he wouldn't leave me behind."

"How did you know?"

"I know how he feels about me, and I have to say the feeling's mutual."

Once Sam was released from the chair, Freya declared that all of the SGC personnel had been cleared.

Jack frowned. Something was niggling at him. "What about you? Have you been tested?"

"I have not been in any situations where I would be vulnerable to the Goa'uld Zatarc techonology," Anise said with a hint of icy superiority.

Carter also frowned. "What about Martouf?"

Freya shook her head. "He has not been on any recent missions."

Jack shrugged. "It wouldn't need to be recent, would it?"

"No," Freya finally admitted.

Daniel checked his watch. "He's in the gateroom now. I think we have enough time to get him down here before the President arrives." He reached for the phone on the wall.

Freya turned back to the detector as Sam followed Jack out into the corridor. She looked at him worriedly. "What do we do now, about us? This is a risk. Maybe we should just...stop?"

"Taking risks is what we do for a living, Carter," Jack replied. "Do you want to stop?" he asked seriously.

"No, sir," she replied steadily, meeting his gaze.

Jack nodded once before heading into the observation room to join Daniel. "Martouf will be down any minute," Daniel informed them. "And about that," he added, gesturing toward the detector, then Jack, then Sam, "I knew it," he smirked.

Carter ignored him. "What if Martouf is a Zatarc?"

"He has the same options we had," Jack replied.

* * *

Freya turned to the trio in the observation room and they exchanged frowns. Blue and red circles indicated the worst —Martouf was a Zatarc.

Martouf sighed and shrank back into the chair. "Sedate me," he finally ordered. "After the meeting with the President, the Tok'ra will return to base. Once there, the deactivation procedure may be attempted. I do not wish anything to go wrong here due to haste."

Freya nodded. Carter stepped to the phone and summoned Janet. She appeared a few minutes later with a syringe. "Good luck, Martouf," she said before injecting him.

"I believe we will need it," he said before closing his eyes.

* * *

**A/N: Basically, I didn't want Martouf to die, so I made Sam a little bit quicker in figuring things out. Once he is taken back to the Tok'ra base, the deactivation procedure is attempted and succeeds. **

**Apparently I like the idea of Sam and Jack having a 'hang the rules' attitude regarding their relationship. Jack's a sneaky bugger, so them getting officially found out and subsequently court-martialed is unlikely.**

***This is referring to my story _Just Once_. **

***Another of my stories, **_**Invitation.**_


End file.
